All That Glitters........

We took our first foray into replating components for our UR Quattro rally build recently. Many steel components on 80s German cars have a gold finish which was at the time probably cadmium plating. These days, due to EPA regulations, zinc dichromate plating seems to be a better option. You can do it in-house quite easily but the dichromate part is really toxic so we prefer to have it done...

Gauging Progress on the Quattro Rally Build

Gauging progress on the Quattro Rally Build.The dash on the Group B Quattros is somewhat iconic especially the big orange oil light in the middle. For this reason we have been very keen to progress work in this area. Our large tachometer came without any mounting hardware. It looks like it was designed to mount into a rubber grommet like the Porsche 911 gauges. That was never going to work...

A Quick Dash in the Rally Quattro.

It’s time to make the Group B rally dash actually fit in the car. This is a reproduction panel modelled on an original by a member of the US Quattro community and is beautifully crafted. Unfortutunately they have to be “relieved” to fit round the steering column as the lower return is supplied straight. You can’t just cut it as it would then be too flimsy. An added complication is...

Shiny Things For Our Quattro Rally Build

Like most car nuts we are easily distracted by shiny things that come in the mail. This week was particularly distracting in that regard:   Clutch bulkhead brace from 034 Motorsports:     Solid Delrin engine mounts from 034 Motorsports:       Transmission mounts from 034 Motorsports:       Short shift kit from 034 Motorsport (of course):     We also gave the car its own "woom" to...

UR Quattro Rally Build - Transmission

We made quite a lot of progress this week but it doesn’t feel like it. Perhaps because we didn’t get to actually bolt anything to the car. What we did do was finish prepping the transmission. We replaced the rear coupling and seals with a non-broken version, cleaned and painted the case, installed new drain and fill plugs, replaced the input shaft seal and installed the mounts and brackets. Mounts...

Quattro Rally Build: TOO MANY FRONTS!

TOO MANY FRONTS! What do we mean by “fronts”. Well, we have opened up quite a few areas of work on the car, none of which seem to be nearing completion: namely:•    transmission, •    plating•    pedals•    dash•    shifter We have power washed the transmission and replaced axle seals but we broke a tab off the rear output unit and only just found a spare transmission to steal one off. Now we...

Quattro Rally Build Pedal Car

  This concept of refurbishing parts then bolting them to the unpainted shell is working out well as we have already discovered a few things we need to mod and are accumulating quite a parts list too.   We got our first batch of parts back from powder coating:   And wasted no time attaching some of them to the car. Front sub=frame for instance:       We also received...

Quattro Rally Build. Bolting Parts On Phase Begins

So we have had the car back a couple of weeks and there has been plenty of buzz though not, seemingly, much progress. That, of course is not the case with much of the action taking place in online shopping carts as we start to buy the parts we will need. Most importnatly, an engine. We have the 10V that came with the car and that "ran when parked" as...

QUATTRO RALLY HOMECOMING

It was a big day last Saturday. We dragged the car home from Cherry Classic Cars where it has lived for the last twelve months. It was almost 15 months to the day that we dragged it up there with its first layover being at Thompson Racing Fabrication where it received its ARA legal cage and other modifications. Finally home. We think this is where we'll build it; in the...

Quattro Rally Ready to Come Home

Well, the seats are sold. That has freed up some space on the parts shelf at least. The shell is still up north at Cherry Classic Cars but we are expecting the call any day now. It's basically just waiting for the primer to dry then it will be ready to drag back down state and start bolting parts on. It was decided to do this in primer as there...

Quattro Rally Build Coming Home Soon?

The rally Quattro is still up north at Cherry Classic Cars but it's coming along nicely. We might get it back as early as this month! Meanwhile here are some more updates. A few weeks ago we were summoned up to CCC to help figure out how to deal with this poor bumper fitment issue: Should the bumper go behind the quarter panel or should it butt up and why...

83 Quattro Wide Body progress

Quick photo update of progress on the wide body build by Cherry Classic Cars. Paul Eddleston-BRAIDusa & Team Illuminata

83 UR Quattro Getting Wider

More wide body progress on the rally build. Front and rear fenders are being wrestled into place by the guys at Cherry Classic Cars       Starting to look like a car again.    

83urq Rally Build Body Progress

The shell is still at the body shop: Cherry Classic Cars in Michigan but we recently went to visit it and to make some decisions about how to put it together. We also found a kevlar composite trunk lid in Canada and received some vintage gauges and switches from another quattro aficionado. Paul Eddleston-BRAIDusa & Team Illuminata

83 Quattro Rally Build Wide Body Kit

Panels did indeed show up from Cool Wheels in Latvia. Cherry Classic Cars wasted no time in offering them up to the body. As expected with composite reproduction panels it's going to take quite a bit if fettling to get a good fit. They also set about fixing the rust on the shell and other minor repairs. Before applying primer.

83 Quattro Rally Build June Update

  Rear diff is back together with new seals. Now we need to decide what color to paint it.   Amanda has started painting stripes on the model.   We borrowed an OE refinished rear caliper and decided this is the way to go with ours.   In anticipation of panels showing up Thompson Racing Fabrication took the car out of storage and delivered it to Cherry Classic Cars. We...

83 Quattro Rally Build Brakes and Diff

Been working on a few things but nothing too exciting. we finally found some proper UR quattro rear brake calipers You can see how the handbrake cable and brake line come in from the back instead of the side therefor avoiding the axle. Amanda made some more incremental progress on the model. She says she's going to paint the stripes next. Then we started on resealing the rear differential. No...

Scattered Progress Quattro Squad Rally Build

Scattered progress since our last update but progress non-the-less. We started to attack the drive shaft last week. The CV joints seem a bit stiff so we are going to clean them out and see if we can save them. If not we think we can replace them. The universal joint in the center seems fine but we might have to destroy it removing the center support bearing which is...

83 Quattro Squad Rally Build Has Legs

With the caliper brackets fitting well we took the opportunity to muck up a front strut before sending the calipers off to be refinished. We are still not sure what color to refinish them. Options include black or red powder coating or gold zinc dichromate like they were from the factory. We started in on the model's livery. Tried some blue vinyl but we are not sure it is really...

83 Quattro Squad Rally Build Brake Through

The 83 quattro squad rally build keeps inching forward. A few days ago we received these beautiful G60 brake caliper brackets from a very generous chap on the Motorgeek forum. Thanks Dave, they will be put to good use. We offered them up to our struts and calipers and they fit perfectly. Only question now is how to finish these and the calipers for best effect. Options are: Red powder...

"Mono" Squad Quattro Rally Build

Recent Quattro Squad gatherings have looked more like meetings of the Mono Squad what with exams and scheduling conflicts. Still, we have made some progress. We got the bushings pressed out of the front subframe. We had to burn them first as the bolts were seized in place. Fortunately the front subframe was prepped and powder coated by the previous owner and already has solid bushings. Our aircraft grade top...

Quattro Rally Build: the Refurb. Begins

This week at Quattro Squad we started to get our head around the refurbishment projects and allocated some to a couple of the students. Matt took on the struts and brake calipers. The struts are almost complete as the previous owner installed new bearings and Koni dampers, had them powder coated and sourced a coilover kit. More on that later. He also provided varoius remanufactured brake calipers as noted earlier....

Quattro Rally Build Body Kit Time

With the cage complete the shell is now in storage up north awaiting the wide body kit so we thought "what should we do next?" We'll, we ordered a carbon/kevlar wide body kit of course: Should arrive from Europe in 6-8 weeks. Of course we do have lots of parts to refurbish so we started to look at those and figure out how to go about things. First we pulled...

UR Quattro Progress Both Up and Down

Progress both up and down the state of Michigan this week. We and the Quattro Squad "filed" the last of the pile of parts "we" took off the car. Then proceeded to fill the floor with all the parts the previous owner took off the car that have been resting in the parts trailer for 13 years. Some good stuff in here: two sets of wheel, full interior, all the...